This week was pretty good.

Elder Becker (right) and Elder Jake with the new missionary and his companion

That is an inspiring quote from my beloved District Leader, Elder Downing. "This week has definitely been a week." - Elder Downing. I honestly don't know where he comes up with these. It's truly inspired. "Your email is not coming very far." - Elder Downing. He's on a roll today! But he's right. I'll probably try to start here. 

This week was pretty good. We picked up two new investigators. One of the girls we were teaching turned 9 so technically she became an official investigator so that really doesn't count but for number purposes, it does. Then we taught a Less-Actives wife and picked her up. She is ready to have a baby. She should in the next couple days now. 

We had a pretty successful week though. We had quite a few lessons and what not. We got a greenie! He's from England. I don't know where though. I think a pretty dangerous place from the sounds of it. He's a pretty solid missionary though. He's not afraid to talk to people which is good. You do a lot of that here. 

It finally stopped raining. Some people's basements are starting to flood a little. Just some water that they have to pump out. High River is probably freaking out. 

Honestly nothing much is new this week. We didn't do a whole lot of other stuff. It was a pretty boring week. As far as the work is concerned it is good but there isn't a whole lot other than that. No cool stories to tell or anything like that. Maybe this week I will look for ways I can put my life in danger trying to save someone else so I will have a good story to tell. 

I hope all is well back home. Sorry for the short email. Well not really but that's ok. Talk to you soon!

Elder Anderson

Know that the Lord is "With you whithersoever thou goest."

Man the weather here is pretty cool as long as you have a car like we do. At least until tomorrow. There have been a few pretty cool thunder storms the past week or so. Friday it rained so hard it started hailing for a little bit. Last year they had what they call a Micro Burst. It hailed ice the size of golf balls. Lots of people's roofs and siding on their houses got destroyed. There is a lot of construction going on right now because of that. Even cars got pretty beat up. 

Despite all of the rain, the weather is still pretty dry usually. It hasn't affected me much but you can tell. It will pour rain in the morning and by late afternoon you would almost never have known it rained. The wind and dryness dries things up pretty quick. I think when the Summer Solstice comes it should clear up and be beautiful the rest of the summer. We'll see. Apparently Lethbridge has the sunniest weather in all of Alberta. It is the best weather. It is kind of like the San Diego of Alberta. Only not nearly as incredible as back home. But it's the best they got so we'll take it I guess. 

Anyway, last week was a little better than the previous weeks. Still a little slow but better for sure. We taught Bruce again. He is hilarious. We stopped by when he was finishing painting his garage and we helped him clean up a bit. Elder Becker rinsed out the paintbrush using the water from storm gutter on his house because it was raining and it made half of his neighbors driveway turn white from the paint. Bruce was freaking out. It was hilarious. We had to get the hose and chase it off the drive way. Then the gutter all the way down the street turned white too and he was freaking out again. I was dying laughing. He say a neighbor outside talking on the phone and Bruce said he was probably calling the cops. He was quietly shouting for him to put the phone down and that he was sorry. Then Bruce said he didn't know who Elder Becker was and that he was some random guy that was walking by. Haha it was so funny. He is Hilarious. 

Anyway, we invited him to be baptized and he said he wasn't sure about it. He doesn't think he is ready yet. We challenged him to prepare and he is going to do that. We told him about church and he thinks the third hour is weird that it's only guys haha. He wants to be with the ladies. We offered to give him a blessing for his cold and he thought that was weird having us lay our hands on his head so we just said a prayer for him instead haha. He is pretty funny. He is great though. I know he will come around. He always jokes that he is going to need a snorkel when he gets baptized because he has so many sins that they are going to have to hold him down for a while to wash them all away. Haha I love Bruce. 

Well other than that not much has happened. I can't believe that tomorrow I will have been out for six months! Time has flown! It is incredible to think that a quarter of my mission is already done. What an experience it has been. I have learned more about this gospel than I ever thought I would. It is so amazing to live it every day of my life to the degree in which we do. 

I am so thankful for all of the support and love I feel from back home. There are so many people who have been such great examples to me and have taught me so much growing up and prepared me for this. I hope that you can see and feel the Lord's blessings being poured out of heaven every minute of every day. I know he lives and loves us beyond what we will ever be able to comprehend. Never give up. Know that the Lord is "With you whithersoever thou goest." 

I love you all and hope you are doing well. Be safe and take care.

Elder Anderson

Missionaries providing bush removal service!

Looks like the missionaries conquered the bush!

Being spoiled by WONDERFUL Sister Ranger!

There is no doubt in my mind that God lives and loves us more than we could ever imagine.

P-Day in Waterton

Man what a... two weeks. I don't know what to say about it actually. Two Sundays ago we had a Canada wide stake conference where Elder Holland and President Eyring spoke to us. It was pretty sweet. We didn't have a lot that went on that week though. It was kind of a slow two weeks.

Last week we didn't get a single investigator lesson. We had lots of appointments and everything but they all fell through. Somehow we managed to have six of our investigators to church though. We have never had that many before. That was sweet. 

We found a new investigator two weeks ago. His name is Alexander. I may have already told you about him but you're going to have to hear it again. He only speaks Russian so that's kind of tricky but we were able to find an RM (returned missionary) in Lehtbridge who went to Russia on his mission so we brought him along and it went great. He took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would read it. When we met with him again he said that he read it and it was really easy to understand. That was sweet. He said that a lot of Russian bibles will have Latin in them so it is hard to understand them but the BoM didn't have any of that so it was much easier. 

Other than that we haven't had a whole lot going on. We went to the mountains on Monday with a family in the ward. That was super fun. I totally forgot to take pictures so that kind of stinks but that's ok. I have some from the trip before. 

The work is really good here. All we need to do is find time to meet with our investigators. They are all super busy and hard to get a hold of but they are all so willing and wanting to meet with us. I know that so many of them are ready and prepared. If we could only teach them. We probably have eight or more who are pretty much ready for baptism, they just need to be taught the lessons and invited to baptism. But that won't happen unless we meet with them. 

There are definitely some frustrating times as a missionary. It is so hard when you can see the bigger picture and know that this is exactly what your investigators need when they are hesitant because they don't have that same perspective. The gospel is exactly what everyone needs and it is always there exactly when they need it. They just need to trust the Lord and test it out. God will never show you anything other than blessings when you live the gospel. It's so simple yet people can't seem to understand that. You have to understand that in order to receive the blessings that God has for you, you have to show him that you are willing to earn them and ask for them. The problem with everyone is that they want to see the reward before they dive into it. God has promised us a reward. He doesn't lie or lead us astray. Either way, His will be done. 

It is crazy how much teaching about this gospel builds your testimony. I thought before my mission that I had a pretty good knowledge of the truthfulness of this gospel. I didn't think I could know more that this gospel is true. Now I realize that I was wrong. I know more now than I did then about how true and real this gospel really is. This is something that you can truly come to know and see in your life. I have literally seen the way this gospel influences our lives. It is real. There is no doubt in my mind that God lives and loves us more than we could ever imagine. We will never be able to comprehend all that he does for us. We will never be able to make it up to him. And he doesn't expect us to. All he asks of us is for our best. Nothing more and nothing less. It is not always easy, but it is always possible. I love this gospel so much and couldn't imaging a world without it. I hope you can all see and realize this as well and know that you are never alone. You will never be left to fend for yourself. 

I love you all and pray for you every night. I know God hears my prayers and I know He answers them, so I know that you will be watched over and taken care of. Take care and stay safe. 

I love you all!

Elder Anderson

Waterton

Elder Jake and Elder Becker grilling steaks at Sister Ranger's home.

Spoiled missionaries = blessed missionaries!

Sorry. We went to Waterton with a family in the ward so I didn't have a chance to email this week. I will email next week though. Love you!!!!